


Aiball week collection

by Sapphiremoonlight1



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Aiballshipping Week, Bright colors and match making fish, Gen, How Do I Tag, M/M, Plants, Possessiveness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22571758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sapphiremoonlight1/pseuds/Sapphiremoonlight1
Summary: Aiball week one shots or we'll see if they end up staying one shots or not lol. A bit out of orderCh. 1- Ai's going to keep Yuskau all to himself by any means necessary.Ch. 2 - Little bit of crack with a self aware YusakuCh 3 - Ai's has nice romantic surprise for Yusaku while Ryoken gets teased by a fish ;)Ch. 4- Time for them to visit Cyberse world, it's been way too long also Ai needs stop with the plantsCh. 5 Ai's tired of feeling unappreciated and having to masquerade as a human resulting in a large fight between him and Yusaku. Somehow though Yusaku comes up with a solution  right out of Ai's book.Ch. The lack of Valentine related nonsense was starting to make Yusaku paranoid. How had his romance obsessed partner somehow miss this specific holiday?
Relationships: Ai | Ignis/Fujiki Yuusaku
Comments: 1
Kudos: 34





	1. Deconstruction

**Author's Note:**

> It begins lol

Reunion/ Separation

A blocked called from Kusanagi here.

An unsent or altered text from Takeru there.

And if he had to say so himself some well done misdirection overall. 

It was painfully easy to separate his obsessive hermit of an origin from the couple people who were close to him. He even gave their own equally obsessive personal stalker, Revolver, the runaround. 

That was the easy part. The hard part had been watching his once blooming partner wither like this. 

Yusaku was a loner by nature but without the drive for revenge he was left without a purpose. Outside of looking for his dashing other half of course. But Ai's waiting for the right moment for his grand reveal. For now thought it left his darling partner alone with nothing but ghosts and an empty apartment. 

From his observations over the last week, it seems about time he made his debut. Poor Yusaku was nearly completely burnt out. The deary steady rain of the last few days probably hasn't helped. He can't wait to be reunited with his other half. They were made for each other after all, life was better for both when they were together. 

While studying (stalking) said half Ai watched him walk off to aimlessly roam around in the rain. Now was the perfect time to come in and sweep Yusaku off his shivering drench feet. The idea of a lovely romantic evening together after he gets the other home drove Ai down the slippery streets. 

For a moment while he was almost in reach of his partner, it felt like his non-existent heart would stop as a car advanced down the street towards the cross walker without seeming to slow down. It was a flash, the amount of time it took for a single drop of rain to fall but it was more than enough to make Ai want to keep Yusaku from ever going out again. The other had barely missed being hit by the car but appeared unphased by the realization that his death had been a possibility. 

His heart might be a mess of wires and metal but the feelings of fear and desperation he has. Those feelings that had been driving him since he'd found Lightning's last gift were real. 

Thankfully that didn't freeze of the gears of the android he was inhabiting. Ai dashed across as soon as the street cleared. 

Yusaku likely surprised by the sudden burden on him gazed up into the reflective storefront window in front of him to get a look at what it was. The shock in his expression quickly turned to disbelief but Ai could tell he was overwhelmingly relieved to see him. 

“Ai,” Yusaku says lowly, still trying to figure out how it was possible he would be there. 

“I'm back” he greets wrapping his arms around Yusaku and holding him close. No one would ever get between them again. Ai was going to make sure of that. Yusaku was his! And he'd burn the whole world down to prove it if he had too. For now he's satisfied being the center of his beloved's world just like Yusaku was the center of his.


	2. Past/Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aiball week day 2 : Past/Future
> 
> mildly crackish with a serving of self aware internal dialogue from Yusaku, who's have none of anyones bs even Ai's.

Most people assumed he didn't have a sense of humor. Correction, most people thought he was secretly an android Sol made to be more human-like than most. Seriously he heard people around campus whisper that rumor more times than should have been possible. The ever mischievous Ai heard about it and twisted that even further. 

People's lack of understanding towards introverts aside it was kind of funny to be the position where they could spread rumors like that. 

Yusaku truthfully hadn't expected to make it this far. He was resigned to getting revenge and the possibility of paying the highest price for it. Time and again he'd gone into things knowing they could very well be his end. The last time with Ai's complete and total breakdown the cherry on the top of his imploding life. 

Funny, how said walking disaster was now waiting outside for his last class of the evening to end. Yusaku might have gone out of his way to get Ai back, but that didn't mean he had easily forgiven him for any of that. No, Ai might have said he loved him, but Yusaku wasn't going to let that lampshade any of the what happened. 

He made the idiot work with Zazian and Revolver on ways to keep Link Vrains and the web in general safe from threats like Revolver, Lightning and Bowman. Yeah the Hanoi leader easy had been enough to manipulate into working with the other two. All Yusaku had to do was look at the idiot and he would cave. With great power come great responsibility though, so he convinced Ryoken into therapy too. Might not cure him but it help curve his need to drink poison with his enemies as Ryoken had put it once. Or something like that, he didn't really want to think too hard about that memory. 

With Ai's relationship to the Zazains and Ryoken covered that mostly left theirs to work through. His now finance should out pestering some poor freshman on the greens to entertain himself while Yusaku finishes up for the day, before they head to out to a semi nice dinner. 

Legally they can't actually get married but really when had that ever stopped him? Or Ai for that matter? That being said Yusaku's been insistent they didn't break any laws until everything truly settles down. And until he's out of college. Yusaku wanted time to work things out considering now he had to think about the future. Getting wrapped up in a potentially destructive relationship wasn't something he wanted. Not that he ever thought it would be, but the whole I want to be with you at the end and I forced you to watch me die with no way around it left thing left a bitter note to their relationship. 

Still to his credit Ai seemed to be getting on with his life too. Working with Zazain or Kusanagi while Yusaku's at school and even picking up some odd hobbies of his own to keep himself occupied otherwise. Ai still got a little weird around fireworks or anything that might make him think about those simulations he ran. But trying to squeeze him to death was better than running around trying to force Yusaku to kill him. Fcker... It will be a long time until that particular wound heals. 

That aside his life was a lot better than he ever thought it would be. He didn't have anyone or much of anything for a long time. Now he had a strange familial relationship with the Kusanagis, had friends like Aoi and Takeru and had Ai his drama queen of finance. Along with the connections to get a decent job at Sol, after he graduated in a few months because he'd be an idiot to pass up on that. Hey, he's got bills now that he's no longer a teenager and much as he doesn't mind Ai paying for odds and ends with his ill gotten gains it was only fair they share that responsibility. 

Strange as it was, it's nice to see a future for himself and everyone else. If only he could get Ai to stop trying to convince people he's something out of a Lovecraft novel. He's not the tentacle monster in this relationship, that's all Ai and he rarely even takes that form anymore. Preferring the Soltis so for it's mobility. Though Yusaku would like to see how everyone would react to Ai if he showed up to their wedding in suit designed for his monster form. They're expressions would be absolutely priceless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately for Yusaku Ai showed up in a regular suit but it was great evening anyway lol 
> 
> This prompt throw me for a loop because it fits what i wrote for the free day so I had to come up with a different idea when i remembered this was a prompt.


	3. Ailand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amusement/Horror 
> 
> Maybe have taken those a little literally but it's still fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote something upbeat for a change! All I had to do was write Ryoken a nosy fish as a companion.

“You'll love it Ai-promise”

“Sure. Is the blindfold really necessary?”

“It's a surprAis”

“...”

“I could use my hands instead, but you don't like it when I do that in public.”

“Ai...” He was going to reprimand the idiot for suggesting things like that when Ai gently tugs the dark ribbon covering his eyes off letting the lights blind him. 

'Blink'

'Blink'

The bright neon lights were making it hard to focus on anything. Slowly the blurry colors started to form into the looming form of a pearly white castle with bright red spires. Twisting around them were roll coaster tracks. 

He scanned around the area spotting the top of a spinning Ferris wheel. Ai's big surprise was an amusement park. 

“Hey! Stop frowning, I know how you get around crowds,” Ai whines crossing his arms across his chest. 

“Then why did you bring me to an amusement park!” he says glaring at Ai who throws his arms out gesturing to the vacant space around them. That's weird a new place like this should be packed with people. 

“Ooo, Almost figure it out then?” Ai inquires, that smug grin on his face. 

“Ai where are we?” Somehow the general rainbow theme of the entire place was so familiar. There was some distant memory of him seeing this place somewhere. 

“Ailand!” Ai shouts jumping around up and down like an overexcited child. “Zaizan wanted to add a new part to Link Vrains for people to enjoy and your lovely intelligent came up with the plans for this place.” Ai twirled around the empty courtyard, dark cape and clothing a sharp contrast to the colorful buildings around him.

“And today we get to test it out with a few other select people!So no crowds,”Ai finished grabbing Yusaku and dragging him along to do who knows what.

* * *

Somewhere else in the park

“How did I get stuck with You?!" Takeru whined avoiding even looking in the direction of the only other person in the vicinity, him. 

“Because Zaizan and th..Ai said someone had to be with each guest to make sure everything was running smoothly,” he supplies easily. Somehow he let those two trick him into this by saying he needed to check for any security flaws. Sure, and Ryoken is an idiot for believing neither of those two had ulterior motives. 

“Zaizan is taking a group with Aoi and few others while Ai is somewhere around here with Yusaku.”

“That even worse, why couldn't I have ended up with either of them instead?!” 

* * *

“Is that?” Yusaku stopped in his tracks watching the Light Dragon Ignister soar over head roaring as it dipped up and down in the sky. Ai's eyes followed to where he was pointing to. Giving the monster an excited wave as it disappeared behind some clouds. 

“That's the best part of the park! The remaining Cyberse monsters are living here,” Ai says, still looking up to where the dragon had been. 

“Remaining?” he asks somewhat confused. They did find some living in data storms so it was possible. 

“Yep, My Ignisters, a few of the cyberse monsters in your deck and a handful of others,” Ai says a small nostalgic smile on his face. “I'm grateful Zaizan let me bring them here, now they have a new home, just like I do.”

“Ai...” But his partner waves off his concern.

“Most of the non humanoid ones are in a zoo type area but the rest allowed to roam as they please with a few restrictions for safety of course” 

'Kuri! Kuri!' As if to make a point a couple of different Kuribohs come scurrying out of different places than proceed to mob them. A Bitron must have been hiding among them because one plopped on top of his head. 

“Aw, how cute,” Ai says ignoring the creatures playing around with his cape to watch the ones that were ganging up on him. “Hopefully they're just happy to see us, or I'll need to make some tweaks so they don't do this to any guests."

He wasn't sure how to respond to. How would someone react to being swarmed by tiny duel monsters with a least some sense of autonomy? At least they weren't a bigger creature...Wait how many Light Dragons were roaming around? Was the Arrival somewhere? He never wants to see that monster ever again. 

“Yusaku, you still with me?” Ai calls gesturing for the small creatures to shoo. 

“Ai what about the bigger monsters?' Like Firewall and... the Arrival. 

“Ah, that's what the horrified look was about,” Ai came over to him and wrapped an arm around him.”Don't worry monsters like the Light Dragon have stricter precautions and rules, anything bigger than that isn't here,” Ai says reassuringly.

“Well outside of this little one it appears the rest have taken off.” He can see Ai's hand off to the side of his vision pointing at the Bitron on his head. Yusaku still had the feeling of unease about the monsters roaming around but Zaizen/Sol and Ryoken worked on this too so it should be safe.

* * *

He's spent the last ten minutes or so trying to avoid glancing at Homura. The other teen and him strolled right into the petting zoo area without meaning to. The smaller Ignister monsters around them immediately took a liking to Homura especially the Acnichi. 

Honestly, it was kind of adorable, and he hated himself for thinking that. To add insult to injury, the Water Levantan next to him appeared to be amused about the situation. What does it know anyway? But it kept using its tail to nudge him towards Homura. Stupid, nosy, oversized fish. 

Then he heard the popping of the fireworks overhead. It was getting close to closing time then, at least he won't have to put up with a pushy fish anymore. 

“Hey Kogami how about we do this again sometime,” Homura says from his place on the bench as far away from him as possible. He's smiling at him like they weren't oil and water. Ryoken's brain just can't compute it causing him to stutter awkwardly and turn towards the smug looking fish. 

“You're not so bad when you're not talking about destroying technology or whatever.” Why couldn't the Water Leviathan just eat him? It's got the time since it's snickering at him. 

* * *

Somehow they avoided being swarmed by any other monsters as they continued around the park. Ai egary pointing out different attractions. Succeeding in convincing him to go on at least half of them. It's been a lot of fun running around with Ai like this. 

Right now they were standing at the base of the Ferris Wheel watching it go by slowly. Even if it was only them, this was a test run for the park so it was the only ride they had to wait for because of a timer. It gave him the time to observe the other attractions around it including the large wall that enclosed the whole island. It should be an island if it was entirely based on Ai's field spell. 

'Creak' 

That was their signal tell them that they could get on, how reassuring. 

“Now we can get a better look at the park,” Ai says snuggling up next to him.“Great thing you're not afraid of heights.” He doesn't reply. He's watch enough trashy romance movies with Ai to know what his hopeless romantic of a partner is going for with all this and Yusaku doesn't want to ruin the moment. Instead, he places his head onto of Ai's enjoying the silence between them. 

About half way up he spots the regular area of Link Vrains over the wall. People still going about their lives in the distance zooming around like ants on an ant hill. 

As their cart gets higher a hand pokes his shoulder directing him to look out the opposite window. A sudden loud pop causes him to flinch before brilliant sparkles of color erupt into the sky. Bright reds, blues, greens, and white in different breathtaking arrays. 

“I'm glad you like you're surprise,” Ai whispers a small sincere smile on his face. Something Yusaku rarely sees from his overdramatic partner. Having watched those trashy romance movies he knows just how to respond. An equally sincere kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oddly enough my other idea for this was something on the more literal horror side of things but I guess i needed something more upbeat instead. It's also been idea i was trying not do as fanfic but it works really well here so. Oh bleep now i need to fix my tags and stuff. 
> 
> Poor Ryoken I think the Water Leviathan taken a shine to you.


	4. Hug/Cyberse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 Hug/Cyberse  
> It's time Ai and Yusaku went to cyberse world, it's been too long.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried not to make it mildly depressing didn't work out that well

It took him a few hours to code the flowers and a couple of days to convince Ai to go visit Cyberse with him. He knew for Ai going back to his home in Cyberse would be difficult. Everyone had figured that out back when self-destructive idiot was trying to fool people into believing he was evil. It's been over a year now since that happened and Yusaku thought it was time he went back for a sense of closure. 

Now all he had to was wait for Ai to stop pretending to not be home by hiding in the closet. The metaphor didn't work when the idiot flirts shamelessly with everything including plants. He had to explain to a couple of police officers in the park that Ai wasn't malfunctioning just being an idiot more times than he probably should have. 

“Ai if you don't come out I'll tell Kusanagi about the time the wisteria tree rejected you,” he calls knocking on the closet door. And the vendor will never let him live it down. 

“Ah!Okay! I surrender, just please don't tell Hot Dog Man about that!”Ai cries stumbling out of the door and clinging to Yusaku's leg.“He'll never stop sending me pictures of me compromising positions! The scandal I tell you! The scandal!”Sometimes wonders how Ai made the soltis cry the way it does. Right now thought he would just like to be able to move his leg. 

“Now could you let go,” he says flatly, glaring down at the bawling android. Ai snivels sticking his tongue out at him like a child. 

“You're so mean to your dear loving partner!” Ai huffs getting up. Mysteriously the tears from earlier disappeared in favor of Ai crossing arms trying to look upset.  


“And you promised not to make a fuss if I went along with that horrible prank you pulled on Takeru,” he replies. If Ai wants to be stubborn, two can play at that game. And Yusaku has the upper hand in situations like these. As usual it didn't long for the other to cave, whining about how unfair it was. 

“Fine, lead me away,” Ai says holding out his arms like he's waiting for Yusaku to cuff him. He might, one of these days if the idiot continues pulling stupid stunts. 

“Come on.”

In a few minutes they were on their way to Cyberse world with Ai leading reluctantly leading the way. 

“I don't know why you were so insistent on coming here anyway,” pouts Ai popping out of his duel disk. Instead of replying Yusaku continues walking down the only path around them towards a hill. He considered working on repairing a small part of this world to surprise Ai, but he tossed out the idea. Yusaku wasn't sure if Ai would have been happy about it or not. 

“Or just ignore me, that's okay too,” Ai whines deciding to hitch a ride on Playmaker's shoulder. 

He steps up to the top of the hill to see the gravemakers Ai made for the other Ignis. There should have been five makers each with a symbol represent them but there was a smaller unmarked sixth one. Yusaku peaks down at Ai still pouting before bring out the flowers to set in front of them. 

Ai floats off to study the small one. With the bouquet set Yusaku turns around starting back down the hill to give Ai sometime alone. Something warm grabs his hand before he gets too far. Ai was facing toward the makers away from him, but he could tell Ai still wanted him there with him. 

Ai fridgits around uncomfortable for a bit before mutter lowly to himself. Still not letting go of him. Then he finally takes a deep unnecessary breath. 

“Strange isn't it I was always the talkative one and now I can't even put together a simple sentence? I'm sure Flame would take jabs at me for it while Aqua waited patiently for me to articulate something. Windy and Lightning would laugh at me while Earth probably wouldn't care, to busy watching Aqua like a love-struck school girl.”Ai lets out a small self-deprecating chuckle squeezing his hand tighter but still not looking back. 

“I didn't have the time back then to work on Roboppi's, I expected my system to be too much for him but I wasn't expecting him to leash out like he did. Then immediately it was just you and me dueling here in the ruins of what used to be my area here.” Yusaku hadn't really paid much attention to his surrounds during that duel outside of the fierce winds whipping around him. He didn't know A I took them here. 

“I...” The hand holding so tightly to his as Ai dropped down to the ground. His cape scattering bit of dust into the air around them but they were unimportant compared to the distressed Ai weeping in front of the graves of his family. 

“Big Bro! Let's Go!”

For an instant he could see the phantoms of Roboppi waving excitedly at Ai with Lingkuriboh by his side. Ai standing in front of the graves resigned to his fate. Yusaku blinks away the phantoms to focus on the real one. He joins his partner on the ground throwing his arm across his distorted human form. Sometimes you needed to ripe open old festering wounds to get them to heal properly, even if they still scar. 

“Aw, Looky! Yusaku's really a big softy,” Ai cheers with a watery smile glancing over at him. When Yusaku doesn't reply with a snarky comment like usual, he tries again.

“You know I read my horoscope earlier, who would have thought it would accurately predict that I would spend a long time crying in the arms of my lovely partner” Yusaku still not having any of his antics doesn't say anything again so Ai lets out another sigh, third time's the charm right?

“I appreciate this, really I do but you know you are really, really bad at it right?” 

“What do you expect?I'm not good with things like this but we've both been avoiding since you came back,” he finally replies defensively. 

Ai smiles at him again, this time it's more believable. Still not completely happy but he's not faking it.

“Come on, let's go home, so you can cry over one of those soap operas instead,” he says getting up. 

“Ooh, I can't wait to see if Antonio and Margita get back together!” Ai exclaims jumping up. He grabs Yusaku's hand again dragging him along back down the hill. 

"Thank you, I don't think I would have come back here without you” Ai stopped around the base of the hill to looking over the ruins before turning to him.

“Now could you stop trying to set up the wisteria in the park with the cherry tree down the street it's fucking weird even for you”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, this what you get when you write fanfic about one thing and watch something with poison Ivy. 
> 
> Mostly it's based on a conversation me and a friend of mine had years ago, eh one day.


	5. Masquerade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ai's feeling unappreciated which lands him and Yusaku into a huge argument resulting in Yuskau coming up with a very Ai-like solution to their fight. That quickly got out of hand.

Ai twists around in front of the mirror scowling at his reflection unhappy with his current appearance.“Asagao?” 

“No” It would be a good idea to stay away from anything that started with A. Minute as a detail it was people could take one little thing to the extremes. Ai spun around like he came up with the greatest name ever.

“Nyx? No wait, Shade!”

“Are you trying to be an edgy teenager?” If Ai wanted to be called either of those, Yusaku was going to call him the/that Idiot instead. Ai stuck his tongue out at him then started tapping his foot frustrated that they couldn't agree on a name. 

“Argh, Aliva?” 

“Wrong country” 

“Hmm, I know Sumire!”

“Sure” They've been trying to come up with something to call Ai outside their apartment for almost two days now. Any longer and he might just let Ai call himself bob. 

“Wait, really?” Ai blinked and stared at him in disbelief. 

“As long as you're happy with it, why not?” He says taping his fingers against the table anxiously. Now they've got that figure out it was time for them to test Ai's disguise. 

“In that case I'm not happy with this,” Ai complains twirling back around making face at the mirror. 

It wasn't the Soltis Ai designed for himself. This one was more inconspicuous. Everything about Ai's old design had be toned down including the bangs that Yusaku is a hundred percent sure were modeled after his. In fact he didn't have them this time around, his hair was mostly straight and black with a few odd streaks of gold. 

“We've been over this,” he drones. Everyone else thought Ai was dead, and they planned to keep it that way if it meant keeping people from coming after Ai and starting the Apocalypse. 

Thinking about it makes Yusaku want to bang his head against the wall at the absurdity of their dilemma. But he loves the pouting idiot enough to go out of his way to bring him back. He's not going to let that effort go to waste now. 

That also meant Ai wasn't allowed to online on a whim as he used too in case Ryoken picked up on him surfing around. 

Which has resulted in Ai going stir crazy stuck in the apartment with nothing to keep him occupied. He came home to find his toaster made barking noises while the microwave had spider legs. 

Wanting to keep his security deposit and his sanity Yusaku came up with this idea. Have Ai masquerade as someone no one knew. However, Ai has never been a good actor to begin with, and Yusaku doesn't want him to have to act like a completely different person. 

“Earth to Yusaku,” Ai says bending down next to him trying to get his attention by waving a hand in front of his face. Before kneeling down onto the floor and reaching into his jeans pocket. 

“Here, can you help me tie this?" Offering him the ribbon that was meant to cover the Soltis marker. Something about the small offer felt wrong.

* * *

“You want to know what's wrong with me!Fine, I'm tired of masquerading as a human. I love you and would do anything to be here with you, but I don't think you would do the same!” 

Something had been bothering Ai for awhile now. Yusaku had been coming home to him staring vacantly at nothing for weeks now. When he tried to ask Ai would shrug it off as nothing. 

“You can take whichever form makes you happy.”  
Ai throw his arms up exasperated as he stalked towards the door and away from him. 

“Argh!It's not about that. You know exactly why I chose to run around like this! Yet, you haven't even considered doing the same for me. After all my world isn't real, it's just data!” Ai spun around to angrily but deflated almost instantly. 

“You said humans aren't meant to live forever, but you won't even consider living with me online instead.” 

“Ai, We both have lives out here, everyone would miss us,” he says stepping closer to Ai hoping he could find a way to him so that they could work this out peacefully but Ai stumbles back a few steps through the door trying to get away. 

“You mean they would miss you! No one but you really care what happens to me, I'm just data.”He caught the deep grief lurking in Ai's expression in time for the other to turn and flee towards the VR where he locked himself in. Yusaku stupidly tried to manually open the door himself but of course that didn't work. Then he tried altering the code. It took him hours to get around the minor alterations Ai did to keep him out. 

By the time he managed to get it open Ai was gone, his Soltis left leaning against the wall like it was sleeping. Yuskau slumped against the opposite wall wondering how he was going to fix this. 

Something he would do again and again over the next couple weeks while he searches for any traces of Ai in the network, again.  
What was he supposed to say to Ai when he finds him away? Tell him again that Yusaku couldn't live in the digital world like that when the other had been living with him in a Soltis so they could be together. Even if he didn't run around in the android Ai would be confining himself to their apartment to keep unwanted eyes off of them. 

Maybe it was time to take an Ai-like approach to his problem.

* * *

Even among the throngs of people in Link Vrains, the empty feeling in his chest wouldn't go away. Though in the crowded city it wasn't as noticeable as it had been in the ruins of his home. At least here he could distract himself by interacting with people even if he to take a different form. 

For some reason he thought trying out being an animal like those stupid reports Frog and Pigeon were would be relieving, but he still ended up pretending to be human. Especially while he watches over the city with a damn fake drink in his hand. It isn't the same without the huge wanted poster of Playmaker spinning over head.

It was unfair of him to blow up on Yusaku like that. His partner as socially and emotionally inept as he was did try his best. It wasn't like he could bring back the other Ignis or force people to see Ai as someone more then something akin to a dueling AI yelling at them to not normal summon monsters in face up defense position. Maybe it was about time he checked in on Yusaku. 

For a second the empty feeling was replaced with warmth as his link sense picked up on Playmaker roaming around nearby.

'Ding'

Moments later the Link Vrains alert systems sounded telling him he'd received multiple inventions to a ball being hosted in Ailand's castle. Even if Soulburner and Blue Maiden invited him, Ai wasn't feeling up to that kind of social activity. Forsaking his drink he walks away from the banister scrolling through the invites that managed to seep into his inbox. Buried under a bunch of hopeless idiots vying for any kind of attention was one from Playmaker, pointless encryption and all. 

He's a sucker, isn't he? A couple of pretty lines of codes and an uncreative message that was just coordinates for the castle and he's standing outside wondering if this is the right place for this.

The great door in front of him opens to let Blue Maiden slip out. “Ai! Just in time come on,” she shouts running behind him to try to shove him into the building. 

“Hey, what's the hurry?” he asks looking back towards the over excited woman shoving him along. She doesn't say anything else to him as she all but throws him through the door. 

They walked into a pitch black room. It only stayed that way long even enough for to wonder what kind of trouble he'd gotten himself into now. 

In seconds the lights flash on illuminating a large ground of creature avatars in all kinds of bright sophisticated costumes. A banner draped across the sides of the hall with his name ornately written on it attracted his attention. 

“Surprise!” Shouts a number of faceless voices in the crowd. 

“I'm glad you like,” Blue Maiden says coming up next to him to whisper “Yusaku told us how you were feeling, and we decided to help him pull this off.”

He's speechless all this for him. 

“That's something I didn't think i'd ever see,” Laughs Soulburner stepping out of the crowd.“Ai at loss for words”

“Hey, I- I just don't know what to say, I didn't,” he starts not wanting to get into what's been gnawing at him here.

“Yusaku came to us asking for help and we pestered him into telling us why, we're sorry if you felt like we didn't care about you too Ai,” Kusanagi injects coming out of the crowd. Somehow he found himself hysterically crying into hot dog mans shoulder while the other two looked on smiling at him. 

“Where's Playmaker anyway?” he sniffles prying himself off Kusanagi. 

“Up on the balcony watching everyone like a creep,” Soulburner replies pointing towards the top of a set of stairs.

“Can't get him to interact with people like a normal person unless his life depends on it,”Kusanagi adds shrugging before he shoves Ai into the crowd. “Now you two go make up, we'll be down here.”

He glances back at the three smiling before running up the stairwell. Off in a dark corner the recognizable spiking yellows and orange of Playmaker's hair stick out like a bullseye. A very elegantly dressed bullseye if Ai was say so himself.  
“Ai!,” Yusaku greets lips twisting up into a small smile. 

“Playmaker...” He stops and scans around them to see if anyone might hear him before continue “Yusaku!”He slides up right next to him. 

“I'm sorry I ran off like that, none of what happened was your fault,” he starts rambling but Yusaku using his finger to silence him. 

“It's not your fault either and you're not exactly wrong, you do distort yourself to live with me,” Yusaku explains, that small smile turning into a contemplative frown. “It's not fair to ask that of you, but I really don't know how we could do things the other way? Except.” 

“Ahh!” Ai yelps as the avatar that had been standing next to him vanishes into puff of smoke. Only clearing to reveal an oversized cat like creature. He shrieks before picking up the small creature and cooing.

“I can't exactly turn into an Ignis, but I can try to get a feel for how it's like for you if I run around like this when I have the time,” Yusaku finishes his explanation, and the serious glint in his feline eyes made it hard for Ai not to laugh. 

“This form is just too cute but you don't have to do that. I wouldn't mind spending more time with you online in a form your comfortable in,” he says squeezing the little fur ball. “I mean I'm fine in a Soltis or humanish form but I can tell your uncomfortable.”

With one last squeeze he put Yusaku down. Somehow the cat's features manage to inmates his partner's usual scowling before he turned back into Playmaker. As soon as he's tall enough Ai throws around his arms around him. 

“Thank you, you didn't have to do all this.”

“My original plan was a lot less grand but Aoi insisted on making it a bigger event and then everyone else ran with the idea,” Yusaku confesses. 

“Ooh, things got out of the great Playmaker's control,” he teases. He scans over the crowd of people below them for them, but it was like looking for a needle in some kind of masquerade. 

“I've never been able to keep any of them from doing anything,” his arm rest sighs leaning over the railing. 

“That's right!” Blue Maiden yells behind them. They stumble trying to turn around only to come face to face with the three creepily smiling intruders. 

“Now then let's party!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow Kusanagi, Soulburner and Blue Maiden turned into the three musketeers and acquired the power to just appear.


	6. Valentines Day?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Did Ai forget Valentine's Day or was he planning some horribly over the top? The Suspense was making Yuskau more paranoid that he already was when it came to Ai and his usual schemes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aiball week final day- V-Ai-lentines day / purple
> 
> 2/15  
> 8/21

The absolute lack of hearts, chocolates, flowers, or anything Valentine’s Day related was concerning. Yusaku had been bracing himself for weeks for whatever lovey dovey nonsense Ai had planned. Be it badly made breakfast, nauseating bundles of flowers or a stuffed animal large enough to take up an entire room. 

When Ai greeted him that morning he acted like it was any other day. Honestly it made him paranoid. Whatever Ai could have been planning couldn’t be good. 

Even if Yusaku was dreading the amount of cleaning they’d have to do if Ai coated their apartment in some kind of sugary substance. It would only be fair that he found a gift for the goofball too. Only he had no idea where to begin with things like this. 

Anything edible was automatically off the table. It would cause the Soltis to malfunction and he doubts either of them want to spend the day repairing it. So were flowers because of his allergies. Plus Ai didn’t really seem to enjoy real plants. 

Yusaku couldn’t think of anything else. Ai’s always been the more romantic of them, not him. After watching the hundredth group of mushy couples pass by he got an idea for something he could do. At least if all the stores still had the materials he needed for it. 

With his gifts carefully tucked away in his backpack. Yusaku takes a moment outside to prepare himself for whatever Ai has in store for him. 

Nothing jumped out at him when he opened the door. As he walked through the apartment not a single piece of furniture or random nic nak seemed out of place. Except for a certain sentimental goof. Ai had a habit of being around to greet him when he got home. 

It didn’t take long to locate him though. Yusaku found him hunched up in the computer chair absorbed in some ridiculous looking drama. The kind that comes with people flying around on invisible wires. 

“Ai,” he called and Ai jumped up surprised. 

"Oh, hey!” How was school?” Ai asked fumbling out of the chair to greet him. 

“As well as could be expected. I found a couple of notes in my locker from secret admirers but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary,” he replied watching Ai to see how he would react. It’s not that Ai’s the jealous type, Yusaku was looking for some hint of what he could have been up to. 

Ai walked over and draped himself over him, “Aww! How cute, too bad you’re taken.”

Then he let go of Yusaku and glanced at the clock, “Food should be here shortly. I ordered some takeout so that you don’t have to worry about that tonight. Though with the wait times they were advertising it might be a little while longer. “

Yusaku stared at him before Ai twirled back around to continue binge watching whatever it was he’d been watching. He decided to get started on his homework while they waited. 

Food came and he kept trying to focus on his homework, but he couldn’t. Yusaku slammed his books shut trying to get Ai’s attention. 

“Alright, what do you have planned?” 

“Planned? What do you mean?” Ai asked, swiveling the chair around. 

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” he deadpanned. Of all people, there was no way Ai could possibly forget that. 

“So? Do you expect me to throw stones at you? Or Lock you in a Colosseum with lions? No Wait, you’re thinking I’m going to behead you!” Ai counters clapping his hands together and howling. 

It took him longer than he’d like to admit to process the sarcasm. Ai did have a habit of taking things literally...but still. Then it dawned on Yusaku that he wasn’t being serious. 

Ai giggled and spun the chair back around to face the computer, “Oh, that might have broken you. Oops! I guess I’ll have to wait for you to start functioning again.”

Yusaku sighed and went for his backpack. He gotten Ai a couple of things. One being a copy of a cheesy rom-com Ai had been dying to see. He got up and waved it over his shoulder until he finally spotted it. 

“You want to watch that with me?” Ai asked tilting his back to look up at Yusaku who nervously smiled back. 

“Close your eyes,” he said spinning the chair around so that Ai was facing him. 

“Ooh! You’re full of surprises today aren’t you?” Ai teases but does as he was told. Once Yusaku is sure his eyes are shut he puts the small, misshaped stuffed creature into one of Ai’s hands. 

His eyelids fluttered open and for a second Yusaku worried he picked the wrong one or that maybe Ai didn’t like it. 

However, he lifted it up and hugged the patchwork Doyon tightly. “Aw! Thank you Yusaku. It’s so cute!”

Then Ai’s smile twisted into a frown and he stared at the floor still holding onto his gift. 

“I didn’t plan anything for today. I thought the best gift from me would be a day to relax instead of insisting you do anything, but now,” Yusaku cut him off with a quick kiss before pulling away. 

“I appreciate the peace and quiet. Tell me next time though.” Of course he left out the part where the suspense had been driving him insane for a while. Then he picked up the dvd again. 

“Now do you want to watch this or not?”

Ai being Ai answered him by tugging him back down for another kiss before snatching the dvd and running off. He was smiling again and that’s what mattered, so Yusaku ran after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate the kiss to shut someone up thing but i also hate alot of tropes and yet i somehow find places where they work and aren't so bad. I also don't possess a romantic bone in body so i might be biased about it xP.
> 
> Figured it would be a nice change of pace if Ai didn't do anything over the top and Yusaku did something nice, it's kind of cute.


End file.
